we need to deal with our run-away government spending, the government is spending too much money. tax increases are not part of cutting the budget. tax increases are what politicians do instead of reforming government. as long as tax increases are on the table, the politicians never even think about reforming government. >> i understand you've been on this fight for a long time and you've been devoted to the whole idea of not seeing taxes increase anywhere. what we're down to is largely a political battle over the increase in marginal tax rates based on what you earn. i understand there's a lot more to this puzzle. but on that front, because that's the one that gets most of the ink around here. it's the whether people who earn more than 250,000 or 2z 400,000 or a million should pay more tax. the point i'm trying to get at is that's not going to hurt the economy. that's all we're talking about. paying 4.6 percentage points higher on your income over 250,000, the evidence isn't there that that's going to hurt the economy. >> it will take taxes from 35% to 43.6%. because you have to